Susan is the Managing Director of ITV Granada in the North West of England. She is also the ITV plc Director responsible for the regional affairs strategy for all 11 English and Welsh licences owned by ITV plc, including ITV based television campaigns.

Susan began her career as a journalist working on the Liverpool Echo, then after a short stint in Fleet Street on two national daily newspapers she moved into television as a reporter with Granada Television. She moved from reporting to production and was part of the senior management team who opened the UK’s first state of the art TV news station at Liverpool’s Albert Dock news complex.

She joined the BBC to edit a network daily live show and two years later she was invited to join a London-based independent company to re-launch Channel 4’s consumer programming.

She went on to rejoin the BBC as Executive Producer of the investigative sports series “On The Line”.

She took a three-month break following the birth of her son and moved back to Granada Television as Editor of News and Regional Programmes.

In her first year in the post, Susan and her team won four Royal Television Society Awards for their output – including a special award for the extensive coverage of the IRA bombing of Manchester.

She was appointed Director of Broadcasting and Head of Regional Programmes at Granada Television in June 1998.

She was then seconded to the Manchester Commonwealth Games as Creative Director where she was responsible for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, press and PR, media and marketing.

In 2002 she was seconded from Granada to the City of Liverpool as Creative Director of the European Capital of Culture bid team.

She has recently been made Deputy Chair of the Board of the Capital of Culture Company.

She is also a board member of the Cultural Consortium for the Northwest of England, the Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company and the investment group for Manchester MIDAS.

In June 2003 Susan was awarded the OBE by the Queen for services to Broadcasting and the Commonwealth Games.

She was appointed Managing Director of ITV Granada in April 2004.

She is married with one child, Alexander. Born in Liverpool, she now lives in Manchester.